The
books on this page are the books that I have
recommended repeatedly to friends who need information
about Attention Deficit Disorder / Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder. I strongly recommend that
these be the first books read on the subject. They
will give you much more perspective than many others
and are up-to-date on the neurological basis of
ADD*. Most should be available
at your local library or bookstore. If not, you can
order them here (through Amazon.com), often at
substantial discounts.

* Note: Throughout this
page, when I refer to ADD I mean both with and without
hyperactivity.

(I generally recommend one of the first two to
start with, depending on the person. These are my
personal picks; not the result of any
scientific surveys or works. If you have read these
and other books on the subject, I
would be interested in your opinion and may, at
sometime in the future, publish a page of readers'
picks.)

A
Teenager's Guide to A.D.D., Amen, Johnson &
Amen

This book is must reading for anyone ten years
old or above who has ADD or lives or works with someone
who has ADD. It has very clear explanations of what is
really going on in the brain, breaks ADD down into SIX
subclasses and shows the wide variety in symptoms that
can occur. There are excellent sections on re-building
self-esteem and informing others (friends / families /
employers / teachers) about ADD. It is written by two
teenagers (Antony Amen and Sharon Johnson) and Daniel G.
Amen, M.D. Dr. Amen is a neurological psychiatrist who
has treated thousands of people with ADD. He uses a SPECT
camera to scan the brains of some patients to see what
parts of the brain are active, and when. Antony Amen and
Susan Johnson are teenagers who have lived through
adolescence with ADD.

Dr. Amen has been a keynote speaker at numerous ADD
conferences including the 1997 ADDA conference. His
clinic has its own website
with some great information including brain scan images
from ADD patients.

You
Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or
Crazy?!A Self-Help Book for Adults With
Attention Deficit Disorder

Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo

One of the best! When I read this book I almost fell
off my chair laughing - and crying - out of
self-recognition. Excellent insight into ADD with tips
for managing life. Written by two women who are ADD and
who work with people who are ADD. The title says what
many of us feel upon learning what ADD really is.
Very down-to-earth. Easy to read and well-organized!

Order You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Crazy or Stupid?! from
Amazon.com :--- HARDCOVER(You Save: $6.90 (30%))--- SOFTCOVER
(You Save: $2.80 (20%))
--- AUDIOCASSETTE
(You Save: $4.80 (30%))NOTE: Prices are
subject to change and may be changed without notice to
Balance Check. The prices on amazon.com are the correct
prices.

Attention
Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception(A Hunter in a
Farmer's World) Thom
Hartmann

A Hunter in a Farmer's World was Hartmann's
original title, now reduced to a subtitle because the
publisher was afraid it would end up in either the sports
or gardening sections of bookstores. This book is now in
its second printing because of its positive view of ADD
and its ability to reframe how people think about being
ADD. What started out as an anthropological metaphor is
starting more and more to look like reality.

Hartmann's thesis is that ADD is a different
perceptual and thought style that has its roots in
prehistoric life and its future in the twenty-first
century. He shows how the characteristics which can make
ADD such a problem in our current culture were survival
requirements for our species in pre-agricultural history.
He goes on to show how these same characteristics are
becoming more and more needed as our economy and culture
are changing.

When I first read ADD: A Different Perception,
I thought that here is a person trying to make me feel
good about something that is bad - ADD. A person who
would try to "positive think" his way out of falling from
an airplane without a parachute! Upon reflection, though,
most people who read this book come to realize that ADD
is not "good" or "bad" except in the context of a
culture. The same characteristics that make a child hard
to control in a classroom or at home make the adult that
child can become a prime candidate for running his/her
own business or taking a Fortune-500 company into the
21st century and beyond. It was in reading this book that
I learned how important it is to use those differences as
the advantages that they can be. If I start falling from
an airplane, I may (1) find a way to make a parachute out
of what I do have on hand or (2) find a soft enough place
to land, or (3) even learn to fly! I might also, knowing
that I am ADD, and that things can go wrong, bring a
parachute with me on the trip.

Women
with Attention Deficit DisorderEmbracing
Disorganization at Home & in the WorkPlace by Sari
Solden

PaperbackThis
has been called a must read for women dealing with the
problems specific to women with ADD. "The
descriptions of women jumping from one task to another in
a frenzy of distraction will move you - either to
laughter or tears."

Like the Teenager's Guide to A.D.D., this book
is very good reading for people not in its intended
audience - i.e. MEN. While the problems of hormones women
go through are unique to their gender, the problems of
disorganization at home and work are not!

Order Women With Attention Deficit Disorder
from Amazon.com:

--- SOFTCOVER$9.56 (You Save: $2.39 (20%))NOTE: Prices are subject to
change and may be changed without notice to Balance
Check. The prices on amazon.com are the correct
prices.

This concludes my "hot list" of books. I am
working on a (virtually) complete listing of ADD books
and hope to break it into at least the same categories
I've been using for my links pages. I expect to have
that page (under construction) up within the next two
weeks. (3/14/98) -- Balance Check